This blog is a service of Alston & Bird's Privacy & Data Security team and focuses on key data privacy and data security issues.

Tag Archives: cybersecurity

On December 5, 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a revised draft of its proposed updates to its Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. The revised draft includes a new section on communicating with stakeholders about cybersescurity requirements, addresses stakeholder concerns regarding cybersecurity supply chain risk management and measuring cybersecurity risks and benefits, and addresses six new topics, including the Cyber-Attack Lifecycle. NIST has updated both the Framework and its accompanying Roadmap.
The revised Framework includes [...] Read more

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought by customers of the brokerage firm Scottrade in the wake of an alleged data breach impacting Scottrade in 2013. The named plaintiffs had asserted several contract-based claims against Scottrade, alleging that Scottrade had violated its contractual obligations to take adequate steps to safeguard the personal identifying information (“PII”) of its customers.
The Eighth Circuit first considered whether the plaintiffs had adequately alleged standing. [...] Read more

On May 23, 2017, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion on Wikimedia foundation v. NSA/CSS. The Court vacated and remanded the NSA’s previously successful motion to dismiss Wikimedia’s Fourth and First Amendment claims against the NSA’s Upstream surveillance program, while a 2-1 majority upheld the dismissal of the eight other organizations joined as co-plaintiffs. The Court held that Wikimedia’s complaint contained sufficient factual allegations to determine Article III standing and that the District Court misapplied Clapper v. Amnesty International USA’s analysis of [...] Read more

On May 11, 2017, President Trump signed a long-awaited executive order on cybersecurity (the “Order”). The Order directs executive agencies to complete a risk management report based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (the “Framework”) and also requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies to undertake activities in support of effective cybersecurity risk management for operators of critical infrastructure. More generally, the Order directs several agencies to submit reports to the President on a varied set of cybersecurity-related topics. These measures demonstrate [...] Read more

On Friday, May 12, companies in countries across the globe witnessed an unprecedented malware outbreak as ransomware labeled “WannaCry” and “Wanna Decryptor” infected a large range of critical systems. The malware exploits a vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft’s Windows, locks the systems it infects, and threatens to delete files unless a bitcoin ransom is paid.
What happened?
An attacker or group of attackers unleashed a wave of ransomware infections beginning on Friday, May 12. More so than previous attacks, this outbreak resulted in substantial disruption to regular [...] Read more

On May 17, 2016, the European Council formally adopted its position at first reading of the Network and Information Security Directive (“NIS Directive”). The objective of the NIS Directive is to increase cooperation between EU Member States on issues of network and information security. Companies subject to the NIS Directive are required to adopt “appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures.” Specifically, the NIS Directive sets forth new cybersecurity obligations for providers of essential services (including entities within the energy, transport, banking, health, [...] Read more

On October 29, Alston & Bird’s Cybersecurity Preparedness & Response Team will host a live program and webinar called National Security, Cyber Espionage and “Bulk PII” Breaches in our Washington, DC office. The program will examine the recent phenomenon of allegedly state-sponsored actors executing major cyber-attacks specifically targeting large databases of personal data for espionage purposes. Speakers on the panel will include our own Senior Counsel Peter Swire; Luke Dembosky, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, U.S. Department of Justice; and Charles [...] Read more